Slovenia anti-fraud officials quit in protest

The heads of Slovenia's anti-corruption commission resigned Friday to protest a "silent alliance" blocking anti-fraud laws in parliament, months after their revelations helped oust the government.

"We are not resigning out of desperation, impotence, due to pressures or a lack of will. We do it to protest," commission chief Goran Klemencic said as he presented his resignation along with those of his two deputies to President Borut Pahor.

The commission urged parliament last year to amend the anti-corruption legislation to toughen rules for officials. But "a silent alliance has been formed in parliament preventing any changes to the legislation," Klemencic said.

"We can no longer accept corruption being politicised," he added.

The anti-corruption watchdog has been strongly criticised by political parties since it published a report in January accusing the then centre-right prime minister, Janez Jansa, of irregularities in his tax declarations.

The report made similar allegations about the leader of the ruling centre-left party Positive Slovenia, Ljubljana mayor Zoran Jankovic.

The revelations led to the ousting of the government and forced Jankovic to quit as party leader, paving the way for current Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek to take over.

Despite their resignations, Klemencic said he and his deputies would stay in office until their successors are appointed or at the latest until March next year.